Brief Answer:
Night terrors

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have gone carefully through your query and understand your concerns. What you have described is known as night terror or sleep terror. They are often observed in young children like yours. They pccur due to mysterious glitches in the usually smooth transitions between sleep stages each night. An episode can last anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour, and when it's over your child may abruptly fall back to sleep with no memory of the incident. A child having a night terror really can not be calmed down, and if you try to hold him it may make him wilder. Unless your child is in danger of hurting himself, don not attempt to physically comfort her. Just speak calmly, put yourself between her and anything dangerous (the headboard of her bed, for example), and wait for the storm to pass.

If you notice that your child's night terrors happen about the same time during the night, you can try something called scheduled awakening. This simply means that you gently and briefly wake your child about 15 or 20 minutes before she usually has a night terror. Some experts think this technique can change your child's sleep state enough to prevent a night terror. When done repeatedly, your child may learn to wake up automatically to avoid the night terror.

Let me know if I could help further.

Regards

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Brief Answer:
Not unusual.

Detailed Answer:
Yes, it can be often found in children of such age. I would not categorize it as 'normal' but it is not unusual. The reason, as mentioned, is due to disturbance in the smooth transition between stages of sleep. The exact reason and mechanism is poorly understood.

Regards

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